Transcription
Welcome. This is a special edition of Straight Shooter with yours truly. You know, when I sit down and talk with people, I mean, you know, I've got requirements. I want you to be smart. I want you to be fearless in articulating your thoughts. Very, very open, very candid about who you are, what you want, how you feel, and why. And to have just interesting conversation, whether we agree or disagree, or whether we're just conversing about a multitude of subjects that we want to talk about. I love talking to people like that. I want people to know that when you see a show like this, understand that it's to have a conversation, that everybody is welcomed.
You know, we've since I started Straight Shooter that airs on SiriusXM POS radio channel 124 every Wednesday night from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. And plus, I include stuff on my YouTube channel. I've had 38 guests, 19 Republicans, 19 Democrats. And along the way, I've had pundits from both sides of the aisle. Well, there's somebody that's growing in the mind's eye and needs to continue to grow because when he speaks, he's worthy of being listened to because he's smart and he's fearless about what he has to say and how he feels and why. You know what? He's also respectful so long as you make sure you're respectful to him. That's my kind of brother right there. I'm looking forward to having this conversation. He is Mr. Anton Daniels based out of Detroit. He's doing big things, big-time things. He's got over a million subscribers on YouTube as well, and I have no doubt that that's going to continue to grow. The brother's special to listen to, and I'm looking forward to having a conversation with him for the very, very first time right here on Straight Shooter with yours truly, the one and only Anton Daniels. Up next, my guest is a Detroit-based YouTuber, business coach, and internet personality with more than a million subscribers across his social media platforms, known for his pop culture, and conservative viewpoints. Please welcome for the first time the Straight Shooter, the one and only Anton Daniels. What's up, big time? How are you, man? How's everything?
>> What's going on, Mr. Smith? How you doing, man? Please, it's a pleasure to meet you, man. I've been looking forward to talking to you or whatever. First of all, here's what I want to do because I, I respect where you coming from. Even when you get on me, I'm going like this. Well, damn. You got a good point. You got a good point. It's no big deal. It's all love, brother. I'm good with it. Let me ask you this question. How would you describe yourself, particularly in this day and age? Are you a conservative or are you just a YouTuber? Are you a podcast? What, what would you say? What do you want the world to know you believe you are?
>> I, I wouldn't define myself as a conservative first. I would define myself as a saint first.
>> A saint, right? And it's a difference between a Christian and a saint. A saint is a person that believes every word in the word, right? We, we don't differentiate. We don't pick and choose which part of the Bible we believe. Um, I, I even if I'm not perfect or I'm not doing everything right, um, I define myself by my, my belief in God. That's first above all. And then everything else comes after that. Right? So, I am conservative, which I used to be, um, Democrat. I'm not gonna say liberal, but I am a Republican. I'm a conservative Republican. Uh, I've been married since I was 22 years old. So, I've been married for the better part of 22 years. Uh, I'm a father and then more importantly, I'm a bag chaser. So, I'm always going to do the thing that adds value into people's lives and I expect to be fairly compensated as a result of it.
You know, when you decided to support Trump in, in 2024, what was it about the MAGA movement that made you support it? Was it the fact that you are as you described or was there something different transpiring in 2024 that you saw compelled you to gravitate towards that?
>> Well, the first thing is I felt like the election was stolen from him in 2020. There's no way that anybody can convince me that Joe Biden is the most popular president of all time and he got over 81 million votes. I'm not going for it.
>> Um, the second thing is is that I start to take a deeper look at my own life, right? Because, especially as black people in the community, we're taught to automatically vote Democrat regardless because we're black, right?
>> Yeah.
>> Um, but when I started to deep dive into the things that Democrats stood for, it, it wasn't the fact that Republicans or Trump or MAGA first got my attention. The first thing that got my attention is the things that I didn't align with with the party that I had been voting for based off of what my family told me to do. Right? I don't believe in men and women's bathrooms. I don't believe in, you know, a lot of the stuff. My, my dollars going to the federal government and letting them manage my money more than I can. You know, I believe in smaller government. I believe in spirituality. I believe in a lot of the things. And so when I started to figure out what are we doing? Why am I voting this way? I started to explore, you know, what about Trump didn't I like and I realized that it was more propaganda that was fed to me and that, you know, he was supposedly racist and all of this stuff. And then I started to evaluate every other president that came before him and I realized that he's just a quote unquote straight shooter, right? I mean, he just tells it like it is regardless of whether you agree with him or not. And most of the things that he said I align with.
You know, one of the things I, I want to push back on you on this notion about the 2020 election from this perspective. I believe that the election was legit, but not for the reasons one would think. I believe that I don't believe I totally agree with you. I don't believe any way in hell 81 million people wanted Joe Biden to be president. But I do believe 81 million people wanted anybody but Donald Trump. So because of that, it makes it, it, it because of that it made it believable in terms of chaos, how much noise was being made. You know how people were like, you had people celebrating in the streets like, "Oh my god, we're finally freaking." You saw how exaggerative and how extra folks were when Trump was put out of office. So I'm saying that to me was emblematic of a large portion of America saying we wanted a break from all of that noise. That's why I believed the election was legitimate. But let me, but okay, Stephen. So let me push back at you a little bit.
>> Sure. Sure.
>> Why, why are Democrats so against voter ID?
>> Well, hold on. We, we ain't got to argue. Me and you align with that. It don't, it don't make no sense. I'm not support. Listen, you got to have an ID for everything. A, please, I, I'm with you with that. I mean, I, I think I do think it was ridiculous. But I also pay attention to Senator Federman who's been supporting for the first part of the Republicans when, yeah, when he said, when Federman said, quote, he said certain things about the SAFE Act are a bit extra. Yeah, you got to, you essentially got to have a passport and it is more difficult to get ID, you know, under these restrictions that they're putting out there than it was before. So, I do believe that, but that doesn't mean that both sides can't come together and resolve that in a damn day. And for the, for the Democrats to act like no ID should be required or whatever like California and some of the stuff I learned about them and what they doing under Gavin Newsom, that is utterly ridiculous. So you and I don't, we ain't far off from that.
>> But that tells me though that they're fighting for it for a reason. And I don't believe it's because they really believe that people are being disenfranchised at the polls. I believe that they're fighting for it because they truly believe that it's going to affect whether or not they get elected and future elections. And I believe that the Democrats, their whole strategy because as people get older and wiser, this is not even my opinion, this is a fact. Most people evolve to become more conservative and then they sometimes more often than not deflect over and to become a Republican, right? When you're younger, that's, that's really a Democrat's game is, is being, you know, liberal, right? Because you don't know any better. But as people get older and wiser, they never defect from the Republican party over to the Democrat party. Usually the other way around, right? So, what they have to do is they have to find new voters and new people that support them. And I believe that the civil rights movement was hijacked by feminism. Feminism ultimately was hijacked by the LGBTQ movement, which Obama ushered in and he solidified that. And I believe that, and I believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion was ultimately the thing that they really leaned on in order to make sure that they had voter people in the voter roles that not only identified as black, not only identified as Latino, not only identified based off of their sexuality, but they needed a whole new voter class. And I think that immigrants was definitely the, was definitely the play. And that's why they fighting so hard against voter ID.
>> But I don't disagree with most of that. What I'm saying is we can point to things that the Republicans do, the conservatives do to position themselves for the same thing. For example, when you redistrict in Texas, for example, in other places, you're doing that because you want to position yourself to get more votes. This is politics. This is politics. So, in other words, we can't hate on one side for coming up with a mechanism, you understand, to curry more.
>> We have to, Stephen A. And the reason that we have to is because, because it's one thing to, you, you said it yourself. I can't even jump on an airplane unless they identify who I am. I can't even, I can't, I can't get a, a place to stay. I can't get a car. I can't get anything. But I can determine who it is that, that, that makes the laws that ultimately govern us. Like if, if that isn't the thing that we need to protect more than anything else in our culture, in our society, I don't know what is. So, we have to be vigilant to make sure that every vote is valid and every vote is counted. And we can't just let, you know, mail-in ballots or people being able to, I, I say gaslight us and believe in that, you know, this election is, is free and fair when it's not. And I don't believe that that's what happened in 2020.
>> Well, let me tell you this, too. Let me tell you because you left out something that's very, very important, Anton. Um, when, when you in New York City and you need an ID to shovel snow, but you fight, I mean, you talk about telling on yourself. You talk about telling on yourself. I mean, mom, Donnie and the Democrats, I mean, it just went out the window. You fighting your for the SAFE Act not to exist. But in the same breath, you requiring ID to shovel damn snow. I mean, that all went out the window for them. There's no question.
>> I don't understand. I know you were born and raised in Queens. I know your roots is definitely New York. I know you a Knicks fan and it breaks my heart to see what the Pistons are going to do to the Knicks. However,
>> Damn, I thought I liked you, bro. I thought I liked you. You got to bring up the P. You got to do that to me, bro. I mean, you really, you got to do that. All right, go ahead, man. Go ahead, man.
>> However, I have to say that you must be disappointed in what is happening in New York. And I'm not even talking about with Kathy Hochul. I'm not just talking about with Zoran Mom Donnie. I'm talking about City Council. I'm talking about Eric Adams. Everything that has transpired over the last five years in New York has ultimately led to you guys electing somebody that hasn't even been born inside of the United States of America and y'all married today.
>> So it bothers me. It bothers me. Country.
>> This country is going, going the way that it's going.
>> You do the word. You use the word disappointed. No, bro. I'm scared. I think New York is going to be an unmitigated disaster. I'm scared as hell. I already moved out the state, bro. I already bought a house in, I already bought a house in Florida. I ain't, I ain't gonna lie to you. I already bought a house in Florida. I'm like, hell with this. This is, this is an absolute mess. So, you have your points. I'm just saying that, you're making points about the Democratic party. What would you say about the Republican party? You not about to sit up here and act like they're paragons of virtue, right? And that they're always honest and straight. Well, we not going to do that, are we?
>> No. I think that Bush I was the worst president in my life. I absolutely hated him, um, because of the things that he did to the economy. That was the worst time of my life. If I went broke. Um, I think that Obama inherited a mess. I don't think that Obama, everything that Obama did was wrong. Um, I actually think that Trump's policies more or less align with what Obama was doing in 2008, 2009, 2010, right? If you look at Nancy Pelosi's policies back in '96, right? If you look at what Joe Biden said that he stood for, if you look at what Obama represented, those are the same things that Trump represents. They want to make it seem like, well, him deporting illegal migrants is such a bad thing. Obama deported over three million people in his, in his, in his terms. Trump, Trump didn't even deport a million people in his first term in office. So, I don't think that, what Trump is doing is so radical. I think that what he's doing is more closely aligned with what moderate Democrats was doing back in the '90s.
So, with that being said, is it fair to say that you wouldn't be against the Democratic Party if it represented what those Democrats represented back in the day? That your real problem is with the progressive movement that appears to have taken over the Democratic Party and that's what you completely disassociating yourself from?
>> No, absolutely not. I believe in less government. Um, I believe that people that are here, they should be here legally. Um, I don't believe in men and women's bathrooms. I believe in smaller, much, much smaller government. I don't believe in higher taxes. I don't believe that you are independent. I think that you are conservative. I think you're a Republican. And not just with your dollar. I think that you are a Republican, but I don't think that you are willing to admit it openly because of the backlash that comes along with the black community and not supporting people that aligns with the Democratic party.
>> Okay. Now, I'm glad you brought that up because allow me to retort to that.
>> I don't give a [ __ ] what people say. If I feel what I feel, I'mma stand on it. My challenge is knowing what I'm talking about. You study politics more than I do along with various others. And so, because of that, there are times that I'm simply uncertain about a position. And because I'm uncertain about a position, I lean on the same old, same old. Like, for example,
>> I'm about the economy. I want a strong economy. Okay? So, I'm about free market capitalism, but I like some safety nets, not just free market capitalism and let's minimize government involvement to the ump degree. I think that
>> What, what safety nets?
>> No, no, I'm just talking about. I'm. Well, when you talk about economically speaking, I don't want overregulation, but I don't want zero regulation either. You see what I'm saying? And in a binary and in a binary system, they force us to pick a side. So for me, when I say I'm an independent, I'm like, damn, there's certain things that I lean a little bit here to the right and then I lean a little bit here to the left.
>> That, that the Republican party forces us to pick. No, I, the Republican party.
>> NO, I'M JUST ANSWERING YOUR QUESTION ABOUT ME. I'M just answering your question about me just for clarification purposes with the immigration with immigration. The only reason I totally supported Trump closing the borders because Biden opened them. If Biden never opened them.
>> Why not vote for him? Why not vote for him? Because first of all, I, I've said this on many occasions. I would have voted for Nikki Haley. I would have voted, I would have voted, um, definitely for Nikki Haley, possibly DeSantis. I didn't like his remarks about good points about slavery, so I probably turned against him because of that. I didn't appreciate that [ __ ] at all. But I would tell you for the most part, him and I would vote for Marco Rubio. I told I wouldn't hesitate. But, but also know this about me because I'm glad you asked because I heard you touching on some of my politics with some of your, some of some of your clicks and I was like, I can't wait to speak to this brother. Right. And I said to myself, I said, "Listen, I don't blame him for feeling that way because he don't know me and I've never really really discussed a lot of this." But I said, "Listen, if you're sitting back and it's like, all right, it's immigration. Follow the Obama policy. Go ahead and and and and keep that policy in place." I would have supported that. When you talk about safety in the streets, damn right. You ain't getting out of jail the same day you get in jail. Not on my watch. Oh, hell no. So in that regard, yeah, I'm more conservative than liberal, but entitlement programs are more liberal than conservative. I think the desolate and disenfranchised because I think the desolate and disenfranchised need a helping hand from time to time. I know it helped, I know it helped me and my family. Now, we didn't lean on it. We didn't depend on it. We didn't live off of it for decades, but to get a helping hand to uplift yourself sometimes I think that's needed and it doesn't bother me. So don't, I'm just, I'm pro, I'm pro-choice because I don't believe in telling a woman what to do with her body. I think I'm more of a supporter of the LGBTQ+ community than conservatives are. So, those are the reasons why I would call myself an independent who leans a little bit left instead of right to clarify.
>> But here's the thing though, Stephen A. The Republican party is not distancing itself from people that's choosing to live their life the way that they want to, uh, live it. That's not the position and that's how it's marketed from the Democrat party.
>> There's plenty of gay people. There's plenty of of people that live alternative lifestyles that are a part of the Republican party. What the Republicans are basically saying, standing for is we should not be allowing for children to transition themselves or for parents to transition children before they become of age. We should not agree with that.
>> But see that, that Republicans are radical. They're not radical in their stance against anything. They believe in, you know, freedom of religion and for you to be able to practice however you want to practice, right? They're not trying to abolish gay marriage. None of that stuff is is existing, right? That is a marketing ploy. But Democrats are extreme in their push for it in order to align with certain groups.
>> No, that is, that wasn't back.
>> That has been since Obama's office.
>> All right. Obama, but I grew, but I grew up in the '80s and the '90s and what have you. And I was hearing a different thing from the Reagan and the HW Bush administration. So, you got to take that into consideration and maybe I dropped the ball because I'm thinking about Republicans and conservatives and I'm thinking about what the party had always been even up until McCain was running and I'm looking at it from that lens. That's all I'm going to. But let me get back to you.
>> Hold on. But let's, let's stay on the "My Body, My Choice" part.
>> Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. No problem.
>> Republicans are not removing women's rights to do what they want to do with their body. The only thing that they're saying is we don't want that to be the responsibility of the federal government. If that's what you want, then you can vote for it on a state level. That's all they're saying. But see, the miscommunication is that they're completely against it. I can disagree with your lifestyle, but still respect your right to do what you want to do because we're governed by the Constitution.
>> Right?
>> You see what I'm saying? Like my ultimate, my ultimate thing is we are a republic governed by the Constitution and so we're protected based off of, off of, you know, our rights, our amendments, our right to carry, right? All of these things.
>> Trump is the only person that's protecting and going against birthright citizenship or illegal migrants leveraging that when that was literally made for black people and slaves. I don't, I don't see anything that he's doing policy-wise when he's coming when, when he's developing a lot of these things that, that create criteria for people to meet the expectation in order for them to get certain things. Even when it comes to, um, government services and help and food stamps and Section 8 and all of that stuff, they're not getting rid of it. They want to remove the people that are taking advantage of it from a fraud, fraud perspective.
Let me throw this by you. Let me put this, let me throw this scenario about you. Uh, do you have siblings?
>> I do. Three brothers, no sisters.
>> All right. So, you don't have any sisters. Okay. So, it was a difficult question to ask you, but I'm gonna try anyway because I have four sisters.
>> I have, I have four older sisters. Right.
>> Okay.
>> So, you feel the way that you feel, but your sisters come up to you and say, "You ain't a woman. I am. And we need this." And what he or they are proposing is the, is IS AGAINST US. NOW, that's not a community backlash. That's not worried about what the public thinks, but I'll be dead if I didn't hear my sisters come in my face and remind me of the fact that you were raised by five women and we don't, we, we don't appreciate what he and them, meaning the GOP, are attempting to do when it comes to our rights as women. I'm asking you what are you supposed to say, think, and feel in that particular scenario.
>> I want them to tell me what rights they're being, is being removed from them because I know that women often at times react emotionally and they're, they're letting their emotions dictate their actions, right? It's okay for you to be emotional. Everybody has emotions, but I'm not going to let that determine what I actually do, right? And so, the thing that I want to understand is the facts. So, I would, I would have a conversation with them and I would ask them, "What right is it that's being removed from you?" Because I don't see it. I don't see any policy. I don't see any legislation. I don't see anything that's being removed from you from a, from a Republican perspective.
Okay, Anton Daniels right here, Straight Shooter with yours truly, Stephen A. I want to get to the black community in this regard because one of the things that, listen, like I said, I don't consider myself, I, I don't consider myself a black conservative. I consider myself a black man who is an independent that leans left on some things and leans right. That's me. That's how I think about myself.
>> You can't be that way, Stephen. You cannot be that way.
>> I believe I can. I believe I can. We could answer. I will gladly come on your show. We can argue about that all day, every day, bro. I'm happy to. I can't. Oh, come on. Oh, please, man. All you got to do is say, you say the word, I will come on your show. It's not a problem. Not a problem at all.
>> You could do that in sports. You can't do that in popular culture and politics.
>> Because, because people in the middle get ran over. You got to pick one side or the other.
>> 40, hold on. 45% of the US population is independent right now. I would beg to differ on that. It's climbing. If anything, if I, listen, the independent vote, I think, is going to swing the election one way or the other. What do you say?
>> They're not. I, I don't believe 45% of the population is independent. I think that they say that as a cop-out, but not wanting to actually say out loud exactly what they represent and who it is that they support, especially within the black community. It's not popular to say that you're a Republican. It's not popular to say that you're conservative. And so what people lean on is to say, "Well, I'm independent" in order to give themselves an out for what it is that they choose and not to be accountable for who they support. That's what really is happening. See, I don't, I don't believe in what people say. I believe in what people do, right? And I think that a lot of times people are peer pressured, especially today in the black community, to vote against their own best interest because it's not popular to do when you can't be a part of the cool kids club. And so even with you, I don't like the fact that you apologized for some of the things that you said because you were absolutely right, especially in particularly against, um, how Jasmine Crockett was representing herself, but because the woke mob decided that they wanted to make you the punching bag and to come after you and they still didn't, didn't and don't support you and didn't accept your apology.
>> Uh, in particular, and I'm saying it's not you, the Don Lemons, the Joy Reids, all of these people.
>> Yeah.
>> They don't respect you unless you align with what they believe. And so even when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion, they don't believe in diversity unless it's aligned with what they believe, which goes against it's an oxymoron, right? It, it, it, it's hypocritical. And so even when you have an opinion, they don't believe in black Republicans. They only believe if you believe in them and diversity as it aligns with their agenda.
>> That doesn't make sense. How can you want to have voices in every part of of government or voices that's different from yours or representation, but you don't want representation when it doesn't agree with you?
>> Right?
>> Like, I can disagree with you on a particular issue, but it doesn't mean that I remove your right to, to, to vote or your, or your humanity or I can't agree with you issue.
>> But that's not what they do. They're not tolerant like they sell you.
>> We all know that when we come, it comes to cancel culture, the Democrats are the ones that are guilty of that. It ain't the Republicans in the right trying to get people canceled. It's the progressive left. There's no doubt about that. We see that every single day as it pertains, and I'm glad you brought that up as it pertains to my apology to, to Jasmine Crockett. What happened was Trump came out thereafter because I backed it up and I stayed on my position. Not just the first time, but the second time. But then Trump came and used that as an excuse to start questioning her IQ and the intelligence of this black woman. And I didn't want to be a part of that. That's why I apologized for it. You can agree or disagree with.
>> You can't apologize for something that you didn't do wrong, Stephen.
>> Well, well, again, but if I felt like I contributed to something that happened wrong to her, that was my only issue. But it didn't take away from what I was saying. Yo, acting like that ain't going to cut it. Yo, that's not going to win the election for you. That's not going to win the Senate seat. That's not going to make you, make you have more power, more influence in the House of Representatives. That's not who you are. You talk about sports. When you talk about sports, you say what you say and it is what it is.
>> Yeah, but the point is I have the facts to back it up, not just my opinions. See, when the Detroit Pistons lose to the New York Knicks, you know, when they lose to the New York Knicks, Anton, right? Okay. I can speak definitively as to why because the outcome is the outcome. There's nothing subjective about it. So that a lot of, and I get what you're saying and I appreciate your comment about that because a lot of people have looked at me and even when they've supported me, they've been critical of me from the standpoint, yo, he's talking, but it ain't the same Stephen A with sports and I'm like, yo, I got facts to back me up in politics. This is my perspective and somebody comes up with something else, I'm listening to you right now. I'm going like this. Well, I did feel this way, but damn, he did make a damn good point here and he did make a damn good point there. I got to listen. I got to think about that because that's how they would listen to you if they would have won. She would have won. She would have won.
>> We align. We align with that, right? But instead, we're, we're more focused on how we feel instead of the results. Which leads back to your original question about having a conversation with your sisters.
>> My goal is to get the best results. And ultimately, sometimes I can't even be the nice person to you because I have to be the best person for you, right? I, I kind of look at it, especially when it comes to women because there are women that I still protect in my family and stuff like that, right? Sometimes I can't be, like I have a daughter and I know that you have a couple daughters.
>> I, I can't be her friend. I have to be her father.
>> You see what I'm saying? So sometimes she doesn't know what's best for her, which I can lead her through that with a conversation, but more importantly, I need to educate her at, at the same time. But I still want the best results. And if, if people really cared about Jasmine Crockett, then they would have stood 10 toes down and told her the truth instead of just going along with the get-along game to make her feel good about it. And now she not even a part of the, she, she got eliminated in the primary.
>> There you go. We're talking Anton Daniels right here on Straight Shooter. What's the hardest part about being a black conservative?
>> Um, it's not hard at all. It's not hard at all. It's beautiful. I think that, um, it's like being a man. Sometimes you got to, I think the true measure of a man is doing the things you don't want to do when you don't want to do it all the time. You don't always want to get up and go to work, right? Because sometimes you're tired. But guess what? Part of being a man is getting up and taking care of business because you got people to take care of. And I think that we've lost that as men and as masculinity is continuously demonized in a culture. Sometimes we look at it as a bad thing. I look at it as a badge of honor. So, I don't think that there's anything, honestly, I don't look at it, I can't think of right off the top of my head something that I'm bothered by when it comes to being a conservative or Republican because I just think it's an education process. The same way that I used to critique and look at other people and say, "Man, I don't understand why they, you know, why they a Republican." Is the light and the insight that I had to get and ultimately it was people that stood since I was down and didn't, didn't change just because they wanted somebody to feel good about them, which gave me some incentive to do my own research and then that's what led me to being Republican myself.
You said black culture has become, quote, I'm reading from something that you said here, too, victim-oriented. But the wealth gap is real. The wealth gap is real. The median white household has several times the wealth of the median black household, which you, I know you know. Where do you draw the line between personal responsibility and at least acknowledging structural barriers that may exist?
>> I don't believe that there are any structural barriers in 2026. And I think to say that it is is disrespectful to the people that was actually civil rights leaders that fought for our ability to do the things that we doing today. We don't even show up to the polls. And most of the time, especially if it's a, a local election or it's an election that's off cycle from the national election, we're less than 20% showing up at the polls, but it's people that died for us to vote, right? We literally can determine our own future today. There's nothing, nothing holding us back. Now, if you told me this 100 years ago, 50 years ago, I might have listened to you. I might have took that and said, you know what, there are some things that's preventing us from being what we are. But honestly, most of the things I would say 98, 99% of the things that is wrong with us is self-inflicted wounds. And life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it. So, if you're telling me like for example, they'll use, well, you know, schools and H.B.C.U. or whatever. I went to community college and I made my way through corporate America and got to some of the highest levels in corporate America in banking, information technology, UX/UI. I went to community college, transferred over to, uh, well, before I went to community college, I got the a job at the University of Michigan. The University of Michigan then helped pay for my education to go to a major university after I transferred from that community college. Why don't we embrace that? Why don't we embrace trades? Why don't we embrace, uh, you know, different cultural norms that's not toxic to us? So in 2026, if I'm expected to teach my daughter who just turned 18 that there's something that's preventing her from being successful and she needs a leg up or a hand out in order to be that, you, you, it'll be a cold damn hell before I ever tell her that.
>> See, you and I disagree in this regard. I believe that when you talk about most of our issues are self-inflicted. I'm just not going as high as the 98% that you threw out there. I think it's more like 70/30 personally. THAT'S WHAT THAT'S WHAT I DO. I think it's more like 70/30. In your favor. In your favor, but I think it's more like 70/30. And here's why. Because I can use the word structural barriers, but then I can turn around when you debunk that and say, "Okay, no proverbial glass ceiling." I certainly believe that exists. There's definitely a proverbial glass ceiling because when you walk into, well, again, you walk in, like for example, let me use me for example, because you'll appreciate this. So everybody talks about me and they talk about my contract and, you know, I signed this contract with ESPN.
>> Beautiful and congratulations on. I appreciate that. I appreciate that and I saw your comments. Thank you for that. But let me say this to you, bro. It was after I worked in the business for 20 plus years and if it was, it was after I watched a multitude of people get their paper. So I have this saying and I'll give you the floor to answer this. I've had this saying, "When white folks catch a cold, black folks catch pneumonia." It's always worse for us.
>> And the system is designed in such a way where it doesn't mean that you won't get yours. It doesn't mean that you can't get yours as a black person. But usually, there's a figurative line and it's going to be somebody white ahead of you that's going to get it. That's what I. Who's ahead of you, Stephen A? Nobody. YOU AIN'T EVEN.
>> THAT'S AFTER. BUT THAT'S THAT'S AFTER 20 PLUS YEARS.
>> But that means you worked your ass off.
>> Yes, it did.
>> I read your book. I know everything that you went through. I know where you got started. I know what happened at Winston-Salem. I know how you got injured. I know where your inspiration came from. Right. I know that you was over in Philadelphia really working your ass off in order to get to the, get to the spaces that you in. I know that you took accountability for your contract not going the way that it was supposed to go in 2009. Right. I know that you talked to the head of ESPN and he told you that your time wasn't up yet, but you worked your ass off, right? You wrote articles. You did everything that you needed to do. I know that you leveled up and nothing that you did could be taken away from you because you earned everything that you have. You didn't run in the victim Olympics and I think that you're handicapping other people because you deserve that hundred million dollar contract. Nothing in your book, not one thing that I read in your book. Straight Shooter, not one thing that I read in your book, even when it came to your childhood and your father and you describing everything that he did that ultimately led you to becoming the man that you, even when you talked about kids teasing you based off of dyslexia and everything, not one thing in your book did you ever make an excuse for and say, "You know what? I'm a victim." You use that as leverage and motivation to push you further. Yeah. And you are the top dog in the field right now. But I appreciate that.
>> HOW CAN YOU MAKE that argument, Steph C, when that's not even a reflection of what your life is?
>> Because what I'm saying to you is that just because I'm not encouraging anybody to EMBRACE VICTIM MENTALITY. I APOLOGIZE IF I GAVE THAT IMPRESSION. BUT I'M, I'M, I HAD TO BE THAT DOG. I HAD TO PUSH THROUGH. I HAD TO KEEP GOING. ALL I'M SAYING IS I ACKNOWLEDGED IN MY OWN MIND SOME OF THE BARRIERS THAT I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO MANEUVER MY WAY THROUGH IN ORDER TO ASCEND. I KNEW IT WASN'T GONNA BE EASY AND I WASN'T GONNA EMBRACE THE VICTIM MENTALITY. BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT I WAS WALKING AROUND ACTING LIKE IT DIDN'T EXIST. I JUST KNEW I HAD TO OVERCOME IT BECAUSE BITCHING AND WHINING ABOUT IT AIN'T GOING TO GET IT DONE. I KNEW THAT. THAT'S ALL I'M SAYING. THAT'S ENTIRELY DIFFERENT THAN SAYING IT DOESN'T EXIST.
>> When we say that, we give people permission to [ __ ] and whine. And I'm just, when we, when we sit here and we look at the quote unquote wealth gap,
>> Okay.
>> If you really do your due diligence and you study, you'll realize that we demonize and we make the person a limit, the person that we're chasing, white people.
>> I will tell you that all you got to do is look at the census and look at the income inequalities and I will tell you that white people are not ahead of us that much. They're about right here. The real people that's generating the most revenue and the the highest household income on average are Indians and Asians.
>> It's not white people. So why do we use white people as a scapegoat or as a measuring stick for what it is that we need to do and automatically qualifying them? Because I can tell you when I was in my software engineering classes, there were no black people. All of them was going into business. All of them was doing marketing and all of them was doing a bunch of stuff that they wasn't really trying to do because it was easy for them to stay in school and still and still qualify for their student aid.
>> They're not picking STEM fields. We're not picking the right, the right curriculums. We're not going into healthcare. We want to always take the shortcut as a culture. And that's why I say that the culture is trash. It's not black people. It's the thing that we celebrate the most that ultimately is the thing that holds us back. The culture is toxic. And we push it and we promote it. And as as long as we continue to believe that it's systematic things that's holding us back, then we'll never get to the get to the place that we supposed to be at.
>> So essentially, I'm willing to concede, first of all, that everything that you just said is on point. What I'm saying to you is me acknowledging whether it's a proverbial glass ceiling from time to time or whatever is not the same as, okay, you're encouraging folks to embrace a victim mentality. I might sit up there and tell you the obstacle, but at the end of the day, you still got to overcome it. Won't no damn excuses. Like you said, I got two daughters. Look, I don't want to hear excuses. You understand? You educated, you smart, figure it out. I'm going to help you as best as I possibly can. But we ain't, we ain't adopting and embracing this mentality that there's no way we're going to succeed because there's barriers in our way that are unfair. Get the hell over it and let's figure out how to do it.
>> I think we push it even in 2026. We push it.
>> Really?
>> Absolutely. We push it. We push it with diversity, equity, and inclusion. We don't feel like we can get a job unless somebody, unless somebody gives us a leg up.
>> But diversity, equity, and inclusion, black folks weren't even the primary beneficiaries of it. IT WAS WHITE WOMEN. You, but you, but you can't sell that to them. You can't tell them that because they still believe that that is something that they need and it's a handicap, but it really didn't even benefit you. And that's my whole point is that you don't need it if the person that benefited from the most from it is the one that you're using as the litmus. Then why would you have it as a part of your agenda? Why would you have it as a part of what you need in order to be successful? You don't need it. I, I'll see people every day criticize Martin Luther King and they say, "Well, part of the reason why we are today what we are is because we should have stayed segregated and we should have depended on ourselves in order to continue to be successful." When you can't have it both ways. I disagree with that narrative, but you can't have it both ways. You can't say that we should have been integrated while at the same time criticizing a system that we integrated into and then at the same time say that, well, you know what, we would have been better off if we stayed to ourselves. You can't have it both ways and we speaking with fork tongue because we're looking for an excuse for why we're not successful instead of just doing what we got to do. Life is hard for everybody. It's plenty of white people every single day that's suffering. They on drugs. They highly medicated. They on, they on government assistance. More white people are on government assistance than any black person, any, any black culture, any part of black culture in the United States of America. Life is hard for everybody. Either you a winner or you a loser. And it's no way that I'm ever going to find myself in a losing category because I refuse to.
>> I'm just gonna work. I'mma outwork you. I'mma out, I'mma outhustle you. I'm, I'm study more than you. I'mma do everything that I can to beat you.
>> I can relate to that. Anton Daniels right here with Stephen A. So when Trump goes about the business of at
least appearing to, you know, the Smithsonian Museum and stuff like that, and basically trying to block access, in some people's eyes, to black history and stuff like that. You don't have any issues with things of that nature? Don't find yourself questioning anything about Trump that makes you say, "Now, that's not necessary. You don't need to do that." Or, you know, anything that'll make you say, "I don't think he's looking out for the black community nearly as much as he should." Nothing. Nothing at all.
I think I think that he's done more for the black community than any president before him, especially in my lifetime. Like, it's a regular question. It's an ongoing question. Before I even start to address Trump and how he permanently funded HBCUs, why he's working on birthright citizenship, that's that's literally for, um, that was for slaves. We shouldn't even, that shouldn't even exist at this point. How he created opportunity zones in his first, his first, uh, uh, election in his first term in office in order for us to invest in our own communities. Um, we, we can go down the line on different things that he's done specifically for black people. The better, the better question is when you compare and contrast and you pay attention to somebody like a Barack Obama, who's, uh, endeared to the black community because he can sing. I love his jeans. He wears mom jeans and he's a smooth brother. But when you ask yourself the question, what specifically did he do for black people? You come up with nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
So, how can we hold Trump to a standard that we don't even, we don't even hold United States of America?
But you just acknowledged earlier what Obama inherited.
You understand what I'm saying? And you can, you can get to the Affordable Care Act. 24 million people. I'm sorry. 24 million additional people on health, have healthcare insurance. You could point, some people would point to that. Some people would point to healthcare is a, the healthcare system as it stands today. The department of education as it stands today, it is all horrible. It is bad. And again, we're diverting away from the question, what specifically did he do for black people? Because we hold Trump to a standard that we don't even hold Obama to.
That's good. That's, that's.
Nobody can point to one thing. I could tell you what he did for, for, for the LGBTQ community, though.
Fair enough. You're moving deeper in the political commentary, obviously, elections, Trump, black conservative space. Are you yourself becoming a political figure in your mind, or is politics just content?
No. Um, I'm deep into it. I don't think that you can divest from it because it's a lifestyle. I don't. So, for example, I believe you should live and be a reflection of whatever it is that you stand for, right? If, and this is why I hold a lot of people accountable for some of the things that they say, because it's like, well, your life isn't a reflection of it, right? Let's, let's say, for example, the relationship space, and everybody can have commentary on a relationship, but very few people have been successful at relationships long-term or been successfully married. So I give a little bit more credence to the person that's a reflection of it. Or you could say a preacher, right? Who would go and listen to a preacher that's not a reflection of the thing that they preach? Once that preacher gets exposed, then it's all downhill from there, right? So when I say that I'm moving deeper into the political sphere, I don't think it's a limit for me, honestly. I mean, at some point, I, I'll be honest with you.
And one of the reasons why I'm still here in Michigan, I got Detroit on my back right there. And shout out to everybody that's in Detroit. I might run for office.
The only reason that I, the only reason that I haven't so far is because it would limit my financial ability to really add, add value to my family at this point.
There we go. So you relate. So you relate to all the news out there. Hell, I ain't giving up that money. I ain't giving up that money there, son. It ain't happening. I worked too hard. I'm not giving it up, bro. I'm not doing it for that.
The politicians are asking for the money we making.
Why would I give that up?
Why would I give that up? Because I, because I believe that, you know, you truly have to be a public servant. I don't like the political landscape. I think that Congress aggravates me that Congress still gets paid while they can, while they can pros to the to the country and TSA agents ain't getting paid.
I believe that they, they need term limits. You know, it's a lot of things that I think needs to happen. But more importantly,
I believe that the true, the true heart of what we do politically is what we do locally. I know we focus a lot on what's happening nationally. We focus on Congress. We focus on the president. We focus on the Senate.
But we really need to be focusing on millages. We need to be focusing on policy that's happening inside of these cities.
Um, I see what's happening in New York. They promised y'all a lot, but now they're looking to raise property tax values maybe 10%. Right. I think that local politics is more meaningful than what's happening on a national scale.
Got you. Before I let you get on out of here, just a few more questions. Um, when you think about what you've done and what has resonated most, some people would think it's you and Corey Hok. Some people would think it's your politics. I mean, what, what was it? What was it for you? I mean, what, what that experience? I watched it. I ain't got too much to say about it. I ain't trying, I ain't trying to get in that mess.
You should.
Well, you know, listen, man. You know, listen, cats gonna talk and you know, I'm like this. I got mad respect for how you handled yourself. I tell you that much. I got mad respect for how you handled yourself. And I think that it was a good conversation ultimately, but, but clearly things almost went off the rails and I'm glad it didn't because that wouldn't have been a good look for two brothers, absolutely like that.
Yeah.
So what, what were your thought, first of all, how, how have things been since that happened? And most importantly, do you like being popular for stuff like that, or is there something else you like being popular for more?
I don't care about what I get popular for. I just think that I need to become more popular. And the reason that that is, is because I think that once people discover you and they start to do a deep dive into what your conversation is or what your content is, that's the thing that then resonates with them. So people go viral every single day, you know, for different reasons, but they're one-hit wonders or they fall off because they don't have anything that's relevant that allows for people to still follow them and keep them. So popularity and getting the word out and becoming more visible is necessary in order for you to be successful financially, is necessary in order for for you to be successful as far as getting the word out or what it is that you're trying to, what you trying to change as far as a culture. So it doesn't matter to me, politics, popular culture, I'll take it all. I like, I don't believe that, I don't believe that there's any such thing as bad news.
But the algorithm rewards the most provocative version of itself. So, how do you make sure that the version that goes viral is also the version that's the most accurate?
Well, I don't care about which version goes viral because people going to do what they going to do, right? So, I, I look at it as I put the medicine inside of the candy.
The entertainment is why they discover you. The medicine and what you do for them is how they, is how they stick around, right? And so, I don't worry about what people do with it. Like, for example, there's plenty of people that'll take what you say or they'll react to what somebody else played of you, but they won't go to the original source and find out the full context as to why you said what you said. Now, you can't teach that. It's, it's, it's a certain type of person that's going to go to the original source and want to watch the whole thing, right? I'm the type of person that I want to read your whole book because I want to understand the mindset as to why you did it when you did it.
You can't teach that. So people are going to discover you and they going to take the information and they going to do whatever it is that they going to do. I can't control that. The only thing I'm going to do is keep doing what I'm doing.
Last question. I, and I've said this on a recent interview that I did. It's like, you know, to me personally, I've always been partial to black conservatives in this regard.
I think that black conservatives have been victimized. Even no matter how many times I went to the poll and voted for a Democrat, it always disgusted me that the fallback, the default position is you must be a sellout if you are a black conservative, as opposed to hearing why somebody. One of my best friends is a die-hard black Republican. He left the Democratic party in 1996 and he has not looked back in the last 30 years. Die-hard. And he's in my face all the time talking to me about every little thing that the liberals do wrong. He just, see, see, and he's just my phone blowing up all the damn time with him. And I've always been partial from the standpoint, I don't give a damn how supportive I was with the Democratic party. I have always been, wait a minute, why did he say or she say that? Why did they feel that big? Let's hear what they have to say and based on that, I will make my decision about how I feel. Not automatically, my default position is they ain't down for black people. They don't care. Do you ever see that kind of mentality being rectified, particularly in this day and age, considering how hostile things are?
Never. It'll never go away. It'll never go away. You know, I, I watched, I watched this past weekend, Boys in the Hood. And it's so funny because as I watched that movie and it came out in the early '90s, I also watched New York City and I, and I watched, um, Minister Society, and we did like a film study. We got this little group that we do a film study. And what I realized is that we haven't changed as a culture since the early '90s. We have the same narrative. We have the same talking points. We look at women the same. We look at the system the same. We have not changed. The hood is the same as it was back then. Everything is literally the same. Now, that was the '90s. We are in 2026, and our children, the culture, people that have never experienced racism before in their life, is claiming racism and saying that the system is against them, and they haven't even lived life long enough to see what the system is. Their brains aren't even fully developed because your brain isn't fully developed until you're in your mid-20s. They're automatically teaching racism and they're teaching victim Olympics to them. And it's, it's, it's, it's a generational curse that we continue to pass down and we continue to pass now. I don't think that it's ever going away. I don't think that it'll ever go away until the end of this, end of this earth. I never see it going away. Racism will be a part of the conversation. Um, gentrification will be a part of the conversation. Systematic oppression will be a part of the conversation. All of these are talking points and terms that we use to justify why we are in the place that we are. I don't see it happening. The only thing that you can do as an individual is to do your part, get the beam out of your own eye, and be a reflection of the thing that you advocate for. They can call me a sellout, but everybody that works for me is black, and 80% of them are women.
You see what I'm saying? Is it, is it about your talking point or is it about what your life is like?
Right.
So, I, I don't pay attention to it. My goal is to save who I can, add value where I can, and make as much money as I can.
Last question to you. If you had a, if you had your way and you got to impact and you got to impact me, and my mode of thinking or what I choose to articulate or whatever, what, what, what would you do? What, what would you do if you put me in one of them spin things and just, and just tried to change me up? What, what would you do to me? Answer, what would you do?
Honestly, it's a difficult question because I understand your position and I'm looking at it from your lens, right? So, for example, I understand that you're wearing multiple hats, and you're, you're, you're crossing boundaries, um, when it comes to sports, politics, popular culture. I watch everything that you want. I read your book, obviously. I look at the podcasts that you go and visit and, and, and you know how you talk about your life and even relationships and things like that. And so you're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place because I believe that one of the reasons why you are so successful is that you're able to navigate through all of these different lenses while at the same time not alienating anybody in particular. To answer your question with that context, I would push you to be 100% hardcore Republican and standing on that because I think that it's the right thing to do, and I think it's the true representation of what black people originally are. We are a party. We, we originally from the Republican party, right? We are, we are conservative people. Everything that we do from the way that we live our lives to the money that we make, and even how it is that we raise our children, we are supposed to be a conservative people. So if you're asking me what I would tell you to do from a moral perspective, I would say to lean more into conservatism and to be a Republican. If you're asking me what I would tell you to do as far as making sure that you impact the most people possible, especially what, whatever your future prospects is, I'm hearing that you're thinking about running for office one day, and I would tell you to continue to do exactly what you're doing, but it depends on the path that you're trying to take long-term.
Great answer. Look, my man, I appreciate the time. It was a great conversation. Glad to finally meet you. I appreciate your work. Even when you getting on me, I,
getting you on my show, Stephen.
I, yo, yo, it's done. It's done. You say it, I'll be there.
You have my word.
It's, listen, hold on. But before we go,
man, you are truly a legend. Real talk. And I believe in giving people their flowers the same way that you give other people their flowers. You deserve your flowers. I think you are incredibly underrated. You worked your butt off. Nobody handed it to you. And more importantly, you broke barriers and you opened up the doors. And when you see all of these people doing some of the same things and they're trying to follow in your footsteps, whether they're former athletes or if it's people that that just want to get into some of the same spaces, you are the blueprint and you should be celebrated today. Not 10 years from now, not 15 years from now, not 20 years from now. I don't care what they say about you as far as the people that may not care for you or like you. You are truly a trailblazer and you deserve every single dollar, if not more than you make it right now, and you deserve your flowers today. Bro,
I appreciate you, man. Thank you so much, man. Really means a lot to me and I, I'm glad to finally meet you and I am coming on your show. When you call, I will be there, whether it's here, if I'm in Detroit, because it does look like I might have to get,
I'm about to go to the Lakers game in a minute.
The Lakers game? Well, yeah. I'm, I'm,
I'mma be, I'mma be courtside watching.
I'm back and forth between New York and LA. So we can definitely get together. Just check with me. I'm happy to.
I got you. That.
All right, my friend.
Appreciate you.
Love you, bro.
Thank you, man. All the best. Keep it up, man. Keep up the great work.
All right.
I could sit up there and close the show, uh, with throwing out a few remarks, but why bother? It was an incredible conversation. I was very, very happy to have it with him. I'm a fan of the work that he's doing, and I think that anybody who watches Anton Daniels in the future will be a fan of what he's doing because whether you agree or disagree, the brother has something substantive to say and is very respectful while doing so, for the most part. I have no, I've never had any issue with what he had to say about me, and I damn sure didn't have an issue today. Push back on some things. He agreed and disagreed with me about something, but a knowledgeable brother that's doing his homework, that's making big things happen for himself and for all of us. So, I'm really, really happy that he appeared on my show, and I owe him a guest appearance on his show, which I will absolutely, positively honor. Folks like that are always welcomed on my show. I am not always right. I try to tell you how I feel from my heart and why that is. Open to being corrected, but I'm going to stand 10 toes down if I firmly believe that I'm right. That's all. Stirring conversation, engaging in dialogue with one another, and still being respectful and cool with one another as brothers. That's what you just saw. I'm sincerely hopeful that you'll see a lot more of that on this show in the near future because I got a few people that I'm going to invite on the show, but I wanted him to come on the show sooner than later because I'm a real fan of his. He does a great job and I try to listen to him any chance that I have the opportunity to do so. Brother's got big things planned for the future, and he don't have to worry about getting support from me because I'm telling you right now, I'm gonna give it to him. So thanks again to Anton Daniels, and thank you all for watching. Hope you enjoyed the conversation. Looking forward to having it in the future. Until next time, everybody, this is Stephen A. signing off. Straight shooter in the house. Peace and love.